Faith groups call for national attention in slayings of two Boynton Beach preachers

February 18, 2010|By Erika Pesantes, Sun Sentinel

The Christian Defense Coalition and the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission are calling for national attention to the case of two murdered Boynton Beach street preachers and hoping local and federal law enforcement officials look into the possibility of labeling the slayings as hate crimes.

The two faith organizations think the Jan. 30 killings of Tite Sufra, 24, and Stephen Ocean, 23, were religiously motivated and violated the victims' First Amendment, civil and religious rights. They plan to ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a federal investigation and on Friday will honor the men with a dozen roses at the site where they were shot.

Jerriah Woody, 18, who is suspected of killing the duo, surrendered to police Feb. 3. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Sufra and Ocean approached Woody on Southwest First Street and Second Avenue under a tree and shared the gospel with him for about 15 minutes, police said.

Woody got a phone call, walked away, but came back and fatally shot Ocean and Sufra.

"I can't imagine there is not a religious angle to this," said the Rev. Gary Cass, president of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission based in Vista, Calif.

Cass said his organization was initially mortified upon learning about the double slaying and later became offended at the lack of national attention.

"Had it been any other group of folks … if it had been two young Jewish men on the street, two Muslim men on the street … it just seemed like the lives of these two young men were minimized simply because they were Christian and possibly because they were black," he said.

The faith groups are also planning a rally and a prayer vigil at the murder site "to send a clear message that we will not be intimidated, we will not be bullied," said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition based in Washington, D.C.

Mahoney said Sufra and Ocean's fellow clergy members have told him that they were afraid to continue spreading the word of God in the streets.

"There's already a chilling effect of this murder. We've already heard from people who knew them," Mahoney said, "They are afraid to share their faith in public. What happens within the public square, what happens in Boynton Beach, impacts communities across the country.

"We want religious freedom and public expression of faith protected," he said.